1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fabrication method of a microlens array (MLA) and an MLA fabricated using the same, and more particularly, to a fabrication method of an MLA exploiting the hydrophilicity and electric field effect and an MLA fabricated using the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The application of microlenses has been highly valued in recent years because the microlens can significantly improve the performance of optoelectronic devices (esp. the light-emitting device, photodetector, solar cell, optical fiber communication systems, micro-optical-electromechanical system, etc.). The prior art proposed to fabricate microlenses on the surface of the LED so that the luminescent efficiency of the LED could be increased 50%. The prior art proposed to fabricate microlenses on the surface of the photodetector so that the photocurrent of the photodetector could be increased 11%. Similarly, the microlens is applied to the solar panel of the satellite to increase the light utilization efficiency of the solar panel. Therefore, people in the art have been endeavored to develop a method with which microlenses operable with optoelectronic devices can be fabricated with lower cost and higher efficiency.
Currently, MLAs can be fabricated using many techniques, e.g. ink jet printing, photoresist thermal reflow, hot press molding, photomask lithography and laser etching methods. However, most of the aforementioned methods have the drawbacks of high facility cost, time consumption, alignment inaccuracy, or the requirement of a high-temperature process.
Another fabrication method of an MLA exploits the hydrophobic effect. This method allows an accurate and direct fabrication of a polymer microlens array without heating. Thus, using the hydrophobic effect to fabricate MLAs is a simpler way. However, it still requires either an etch-transfer process or a printing method to define hydrophobic boundaries.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a rapid and low-cost fabrication method of an MLA and an MLA fabricated using the same.